While the Bay Bridge was closed last week, there was an unusual amount of heavy traffic on 101 through Marin. It reminded me how lucky residents of Southern Marin normally are.

Image courtesy of Peter Kaminski

An easy and beautifully scenic commute to the city is the lucky lot of residents of Sausalito, Mill Valley, Strawberry, Tiburon, Larkspur, and Corte Madera, on most days. With a choice of commuting by ferry, express bus or car, and with the institution of FasTrak on the Golden Gate Bridge, the traditional backup at the toll booths is just about gone and our daily commute usually goes quite well.

Residents of Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo and Greenbrae have it nearly as good. Normally, the traffic does back up during evening rush hour just south of the Sir Francis Drake exit — which is the main exit for Greenbrae and points west, as well as the first access to the Richmond/San Rafael bridge — but that slowdown only affects them for a small stretch of their road home.





Golden Gate Transit buses get high marks and post healthy ridership figures, as do the ferries. Check their stats, routes, and schedules at www.goldengate.org. The express ferries from Larkspur Landing tend to be the most heavily used, as they run the most frequently at commute times; however, the ferry boats from Tiburon on Sausalito also work for many Marin residents as a daily commute option.

How about biking to work? Whenever the Golden Gate Bridge has the sidewalk along the southbound lanes open, you’ll see scores of people — mostly residents of Mill Valley, Strawberry, Tiburon and Sausalito – commuting by bike. While the Bridge District does not currently keep that bikes-only sidewalk open 24/7, both the Marin Bike Coalition and the San Francisco Bike Coalition are working to improve bike access hours for the bridge.

When the Doyle Drive Improvement project (also known as the Presidio Parkway, Marin residents will probably face temporarily slower traffic on the bridge and along the 101 corridor at commute times. This should result in heavier usage of the ferry system. Some of my friends, neighbors and clients say they intend to work from home more frequently, or modify their schedules to drive in before or after rush hour. Personally, I’m in favor of a fleet of “gypsy” ferries — Zodiacs and Boston Whalers carrying the workforce to and fro across the bay — but that will probably remain a dream. Until then…

Doyle Drive image courtesy of mattymatt